Silk
by The Otherworlder
Summary: A rather twisted interpretation of the strange and incomprehensible character named Cho, and the truth behind her actions. PercyCho, OliverCho, DracoCho. A one-shot challenge fic. SomewhatOOC.


AN: A Harry Potter story! That features Cho, Percy, Oliver and Draco! A pure romance story! LOL, so unlike me, eh? Don't worry, I haven't gone mad. This is a challenge fic from my romance obsessed friend Seppuku. I would never write something so strange. I hope you enjoy it still! Reviews are absolutely loved!

Disclaimer: It's all Rowling's of course.

* * *

Silk

I. Percy

She is a most extraordinarily beautiful creature, sweet and gentle like the first tentative cherry blossom of the spring.

That was what I thought the first time I beheld her. It was in Ancient Runes class, where I was a student teacher. Everyone else was studiously doing work, but I found her exchanging notes with a seatmate, giggling over their little antics. Angrily I went over to them, my stern face displaying my disapproval clear enough. She looked at me, and that girlish laugh vanished from her pretty face, replaced by a deeply apologetic look.

"We are... we are sorry." She said, faint blush colouring her cheeks. She sounded timid, though with a clear attempt of bravely taking responsibility.

I found it hard to be stern with her any longer. "Just don't do it again, and get back to your work." I said, my voice very level.

She nodded and said softly, "Thank you for reminding us. We must seem like two foolish little girls to you. I am sorry." She blushed once more, and gave me a small, shy smile.

My hearted melted. I had fallen in love with her, then and there. I didn't know it was possible, this love at first sight, but I knew one thing, I was head over heel, hopelessly in love with Cho Chang.

For a long while I did nothing. I didn't know what to do. She was three years younger than me, and we don't have any classes together. Even in Ancient Runes I had little chance to speak with her, for I was always running to and fro in class to help all the students. I tried to invite her for some drink at Three Broomsticks, but that never worked out the way I wished. She was always surrounded by a group of girls. I couldn't even walk near her without seeming strange and out of place.

But at last my chance came. The Ancient Runes professor decided that she and I, both star students and very talented with ancient characters of all kind, should work together on a translation project. I was ecstatic. Finally, a chance to be with her alone, and perhaps turn my unnoticed worship into something much more tangible. Yet I could not pluck up the courage to say anything to her. Her sweet smile, her eyes clear like crystal pools, and her face, gentle and innocent like that of an angle sitting by the feet of God, shinning with the light of the divine, all of those stopped my words in my throat before they had any chance of escaping.

Once, I asked her with feigned teasing, "Are you going out with anyone, Cho?"

She blushed furiously, her entire face was scarlet. She lowered her head and murmured so quietly that if I was truly only teasing I wouldn't have heard her answer. "No, god, no. I wouldn't think..." She trailed off there, growing redder.

I said nothing afterward, and I was ever awkward since. There was this silent despair in me that I couldn't even express. I didn't know if she noticed anything. Even if she did, she would say nothing of it. Still she would smile at me, ever so sweetly, and her eyes bright and clear like crystal pools.

It would have been well. We could have stayed this way forever, but I ruined it. It was a Saturday afternoon, when we were again working on the translation project for Ancient Runes. It was one of those stuffy summer afternoons, and the heat was unbearable.

"Oh, it is so hot." Finally she said with clear discomfort, taking off her robe.

She was only wearing a small muggle-styled shirt underneath, displaying her elegant swan neck, her thin shoulders and her long, slender arms. Her skin was so white, like tender petals of magnolia flowers. She came and sat down beside me once more. She was so near that her arm brushed against mine ever so gently. She smelt sweetly of spring flowers, and every part of her seemed so inviting.

I did not know what came over me then. Suddenly I couldn't control myself. I wrapped my arms about her and bent my head, trying to find her lips with my own. With an inhumane strength and swiftness she broke away from my arms and leaped away. She stared at me with startled eyes, shocked, breathless, and miserable like a frightened doe before a hunter.

I sank down in the chair, unable to move, for a paralysing horror suddenly took over me. I dared to raise my hands against her! That pure, crystalline, ethereal figure, I dared to raise my hands to it and defiled it thus! "I am sorry, I am sorry, Cho." I muttered miserably. "I don't know what came over me. Please, forgive me, please."

She didn't speak, only stared at me still.

"No! Don't forgive me! I don't deserve it." I suddenly raged, angry with myself.

"It's... it's okay, Percy." She said hesitantly. "I know you didn't mean any of it, right?"

"I was mad. Madness." I said bitterly. "Don't worry. I shall never trouble you ever again."

"There is no need for that." She said with a shy smile. "We can still be friends."

We spoke no more. She never told that incident to anyone, and when she sees me again, she would still smile at me sweetly. Sometimes she even came to me for help. All her kindness only struck the chord of guilt within me. I tried my best to make her happy, tending to her every wish. I can never raise my hand to that crystal soul again, but at least I can worship it from afar, and preserve it for all to love.

And all did love her indeed. I was speaking with the Gryffindor Quiditch captain Oliver once, for he was a good friend of mine who confided in me, and he said to me, "I asked Cho Chang out today. You know, the Ravenclaw seeker girl?"

"Yes?" I asked, seemingly uncaringly, when in truth every muscle of mine tensed.

"She refused." Oliver said with a laugh.

I breathed a sigh of relief. I didn't know why. I don't think I should mind if she did go out with someone. I want her to be happy.

"Can't say that surprises me much." I said lightly to Oliver with a shrug. "I know her a little from Ancient Runes. She is such a shy girl."

Oliver gave me a funny look, "Shy?"

I frowned. "Yes, why?"

Oliver laughed and shrugged again. "Nothing." He said.

That was the last I have heard on that matter.

* * *

II. Oliver

She is an extraordinarily beautiful creature, lovely and fey spirited like the never fading wild iris.

I came to know her on the Quiditch field. We had to share the field for practices with the Ravenclaw sometimes, and I have seen her here and there. I love watching her fly, watching her ride the wind with her long raven hair whipping behind her. I also love watching her chase the Snitch, and marvel every time as she races the golden wings how such a bright spirit can hide inside so fragile a form.

There was this once when the Gryfindors were practicing, and she was watching intently from the sideline with a few girlfriends, pointing and speaking. The captain in me made me go over to her.

"Hey." I said. "We are having a practice here!"

"Must you kick out your fans hard so harshly?" She said, tilting her head slightly and looking at me with a dazzling smile. "I am not here as a Ravenclaw seeker, but as a friend accompanying someone to see her heroes." She nodded towards my direction with another smile, while the girls with her giggled.

I blinked. I could smell both honey and gunpowder in her words. I didn't know how, for I am no expert in reading between the lines and deciphering subtlety, but my gut feelings were seldom wrong. I didn't know what to say, and stood there dumbly for a while. Fortunately, or rather, unfortunately, the Weasley twins came to my rescue.

"Shoo, little girls." Fred said, waving his hand rather dramatically. "Shoo. Go play with your dollies somewhere else."

She flashed a smile at him, "We rather watch true athletes at work. Even little girls like us know where the better entertainment lies." Again, I smell something strange in her words. I told the Weasley twins to shut up, knowing that their petty smartness will be no match for this frail looking Ravenclaw seeker.

"Alright, you three can stay and watch." I said to them.

Our interactions stayed like that, never more than a few exchanges. Yet slowly I grew to love her. I loved the strange smell of mixed honey and gunpowder in her words, and I loved the smile on her face and the light in her eyes. I especially loved her spirit. When I stood near her, I could feel the warmth of the spirit burning inside her.

Finally, I asked her out. It wasn't very difficult. I simply asked, "Will you be my girlfriend."

She stared at me first, and then she laughed. "Oh god, no!" She said. "That would be like incest!"

"What?" I exclaimed.

She came near me then and hugged my arm like a little girl. "You have always been like a brother to me, Oliver, and I always loved you like one." She said. "Do you not find a little sister in me as well?"

"Well..." I didn't know. I only thought I loved her, not _how _I loved her.

"Oh come, Oliver!" She said brightly. "You always cared for me and protected me as if I was your little sister. You never treated me as anything else. You seemed incapable of find anything other than a cute little sister in me."

I nodded and smiled back at her. She was right, I did love her like a little sister. She was so lovely, so frail and so spirited at once, so dear to me like a sister I never had. I laughed and hugged her, and the honey and gunpowder in her words that I could practically _taste_ was promptly forgotten. It can't be important.

* * *

III. Draco

She is an extraordinarily beautiful creature, dangerously fair like a bright rose with both lulling fragrance and poisoned thorns.

I only started to heed her when I learned that Harry Potter, the arrogant, ignorant Boy-Who-Lived, had a huge crush on her. It was part amusement and part curiosity that drove me to observe with care the Ravenclaw rose. Her beauty I had grudgingly admitted before anything else. She has a chiselled face atop of a long, elegant swan neck. Her skin was pale and translucent as if carved from the finest alabaster. Her dark hair is the colour of night itself. Back then she still irked me, even her ethereal beauty, for I would tell myself that she looked so frail, as if she would break any day. But slowly I learned that even her fragility she would use to suit her ends. Even that was part of incredible wile that has everyone at the hem of her robe.

That day I was in Three Broomsticks when I chanced upon her with Potter. Out of curiosity's sake I listened in on their conversation. It was one of those things that you just can't report fully without laughing your head off. When Cho's voice escalated to an endless sob and came "I don't know why you asked me out in the first place if you're going to make arrangements to meet other girls right after me...how many are you meeting after Hermione?" I couldn't help it anymore. I buried my head in my arms and laughed long and hard into the counter. There was a dramatic slam of the door as Cho rushed out into the pouring rain, and Harry following with pathetic cries. I think I laughed out loud at this point. I couldn't make sure; I was too engulfed in my own mirth.

A few minutes later she returned again, and came to the counter shivering. "Something with lots chocolate that can really warm me up." She ordered, before turning to me sharply. "And Malfoy, kindly stop laughing now."

I raised my head and looked at her. "What were you trying to do there?" I said, smirking. "Though I must say, it was a _brilliant _performance."

She looked at me and said wryly, "Can't you tell what I am trying to do? I am trying to make that Boy-Who-Lived fall out of love with me."

I stared at her for a moment before broke down laughing again. "Mine, mine!" I said breathlessly. "You are certainly creative. That's most definitely not how you handled others, say, the poor Percy Weasley?"

"Must you remind me of him? It was most irritating. I was merely trying to get out of trouble in Ancient Runes, and he must fall in love with me like that. Of course, Percy doesn't have that much of a conceit like Harry Potter here." She said with faint amusement. "He is actually very insecure. All I have to do is put up some cherubic innocence, and he will tell himself he is too _filthy_ to raise his hands to me. Obviously this can't quite work with Potter, so I retire to old ways. You know what they say: to defeat an egoistical person you must feed his ego first."

"Beautiful. Absolutely beautiful. Most excellently executed." I murmured. "What about that Oliver?"

She laughed. "Oliver is a straight-forward Scandinavian. Be gay and spirited, and give him a whole speech about brotherhood and bond, and he shall take you into his circle of knights and would never hesitate to die defending you."

I cracked up and just went on laughing hysterically. This girl, she was absolutely brilliant. Ignore those dimwitted who tell you the mudblood Hermione Granger is the smartest witch of the generation, that clueless, grisly girl is no where in the league of Cho Chang, dazzling and enthralling. Finally I wept a tear of mirth away and went on asking, "Why must you indulge such tedious methods? There are more blunt and easier ways."

"And where would be the artistry be?" She winked at me. "And this way, I would have support instead of hatred and scorn. Unlike you, Malfoy, I actually do have social skills."

"And you speak of artistry?" I shot right back at her. "Where is the artistry in an insult that blatant?"

She only laughed and sipped her drink. Neither of us spoke for a few moments, finally I asked, "Tell me, Chang, how would you make _me _fall out of love with you?"

She looked at me, before flashing a most dazzling smile that can turn onlookers to stone. "I don't know, why, are you _in _love with me to begin with?" She asked.

My heart began to beat a little faster, but I restrained myself and said with forced nonchalance. "I might, but then again, I do know your true nature. How can I be in love with someone who has no love to begin with?"

She looked at me unblinkingly for a long time. Suddenly she leaned forward and kissed me. Her soft lips brushed mine, sending a jolt of electricity into me. I could have thought many other things, but all I noticed was her eyelashes like the wings of butterflies, and that she smelt sweetly of bitter chocolate. When she finally pulled away I had trouble regaining my breath.

"Do you still think I have no love?" She asked softly, sweetly.

It took me a long time to answer, but at last the word came, with forced cheerful that might even fooled her. "Of course. You have absolutely no love at all."

She laughed long and hard, and at last she whispered to me softly, "I think we will be very good friends, dragon-hearted one."

I smirked. "Like wise to you, silken-minded one."

* * *

Note: Draco means dragon, so everyone knows that. Hence the reference at the end of the story. As in Cho, that sound can be many things in Chinese: the verb to pump, sorrow, ugly, smelly, thick/pasty..... LOL. I don't know why Rowling picked that particular sound. Finally I found a character with the sound cho that would be actually used as a name, and it means silk. So there. Hence the final words of Malfoy and the title.


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